Rail union the RMT has confirmed Virgin East Coast staff will stage a 24-hour walkout on October 3 in a dispute over job security and working conditions.

RMT members voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in August.

The East Coast main line runs between London and Aberdeen and is operated by Inter City Railways Ltd which is 90 per cent owned by Stagecoach in a joint venture with Virgin Trains.

The RMT said talks aimed at resolving “a series of long-running issues at the heart of the dispute failed despite strenuous efforts by the union negotiating team”.

Inter City Railways Ltd secured the eight year franchise in 2014, taking the route back into private hands after it was renationalised in 2009 when National Express handed back the franchise.

Under the terms of the East Coast Rail franchise, Inter City Railways agreed to pay the Government £3.3 billion for the franchise and committed to invest £140 million in the route.

The RMT has claimed the jobs of around 200 of its members are under threat though operator Virgin Trains has insisted compulsory job cuts are not being considered.

RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: “RMT will not sit back while nearly 200 members' jobs are under threat and while conditions and safety are put at risk by a franchise which is clearly in financial trouble.

“We will also not tolerate the cavalier attitude to safety that is now on show as the company mobilises its scab army of managers. “The union suspended an earlier programme of action when it looked like serious progress was being made in talks but that process has now failed to reach a satisfactory conclusion and we are back into industrial action as a result.

“We have been shocked at the way the company have led us up the garden path when we entered talks in good faith.

“Our representative are rightly angry at this cavalier approach.

“The company have chosen to treat the negotiations as a game up to now, merely going through the motions and playing for time.

“To behave like that is to treat the union and its members with pure contempt.

“Our members will not pay the price for a crisis cooked up in the Virgin/Stagecoach boardroom. “The action is back on and the union remains available for serious talks.”

Virgin Trains has pledged to run a full timetable during the industrial action.

David Horne, managing director of Virgin Trains on the east coast, said: “We have worked hard to ensure there are comprehensive contingency plans in place and I want to reassure our customers that our timetable will be unaffected during these walk-outs, as well as during any subsequent strikes by the RMT.

“The changes we are making are part of the customer-centric revolution we have planned for the east coast.

“We’re already more than half-way through our complete refresh of our trains with all new interiors being rolled out, and in two years will have our brand-new Azuma trains coming into service.

“Alongside more modern trains, we want a modern customer service proposition – one that focuses firmly on the customer.

“With our guarantees that there will be no compulsory redundancies, no impact on safety and a full timetable in place during the walk-outs, these strikes will cost RMT members pay for no reason, and we urge the union to rejoin us around the negotiating table.”